(Letter to the Post-Standard drawing attention to the fact that the last paragraph of Denis Halliday’s letter was omitted from publication. Published, 3/04/08.)

To the Editor:

I was very pleased to see that you published a letter from Denis Halliday, former U.N. assistant secretary general, who resigned after a distinguished 34-year career because of the brutal sanctions against Iraq. I’m sorry that you did not include the last paragraph of his letter for your readers to see, as this was the paragraph that spoke most directly to them.

In that paragraph, Halliday urged people to ask themselves about their own responsibility and complicity in what is happening to Dr. Dhafir and other Arabs and Muslims around the country. He said:

“Dr. Dhafir has become a victim of American injustice that applies a double standard. He is being swept up in anti-Islamic, anti-Arab madness that has corrupted the American justice system. It is past time that all humanitarian-minded, decent Americans ask ourselves: Is this the justice system we want? When American Values and American democratic principles are endangered, we must take on the responsibilities of citizenship. We must reverse these prejudicial practices before it is too late.”

Please let your readers know that Dr. Dhafir’s appeals brief – submitted on Feb. 8 – is available at www.dhafirtrial.net. It will enable them to see a whole side of Dr. Dhafir’s story that has never had any coverage in your newspaper.